Rob Service
by Galbert-Kun
Summary: <html><head></head>Robbie goes through each day like the previous one, lacking and wanting. What does he lack, and is what he lacks what he wants?</html>
1. Ill

Disclaimer= **I do not own Victorious.**

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><p>"… and that is what Rob Service is…"<p>

"That's why you don't have a girlfriend fool." Robbie Shapiro tuned out Rex's words yet again. He was in between Stages 1 and 2 of sleep, when the quotables began. Another fitful night of sleep was going to happen, but he was so used to it that he didn't care about it anymore. A few hours of sleep and Robbie threw in the towel, giving up on trying to get a full night of it.

It wasn't a fun morning. Too young for advanced medicinal help, Robbie downed several energy drinks in an attempt to stay awake. It seems that he is a ghost to his Hollywood Arts peers when not identified by friends. Robbie has atteneded HA longer than his peers, and still little to no people outside of his group recognizes him.

_A simple greeting would be nice, but they can't even do that. Rex gets greeted more than I do. He is more accepted than I am…_

_It is shameful that people treat me like this, on a day when a single syllable of kindness said to me would brighten my spirits. Guess people are way to busy to spare 26 frames out of their day for a hey…_

"Hey!" Robbie felt a tap on his shoulder. Taking his head out from his locker, he looks at Cat Valentine, who has a smile on her face, highlighted by her strawberry crème lip glossed lips. Even though his right arm has mold and moss growing on it, Robbie appreciated Cat's greeting and reciprocated with a half hug. Her attitude on life, despite what people thought of her, was always positive. Shockingly, Rex's puppeteer continued to have a sunken feeling of dejection on his face, alarming Cat, whom could not think of a way to comfort him.

"Have lunch with me later Robbie, 'kay?" Robbie remained silent, walking to Sikowitz's class with the same dark attitude. Cat pleaded with him to consider it. Robbie threw up a finger and wagged it from side to side, indicating that he did not want to have lunch with Cat.

"She's practically throwing herself at you kid, the least you can do is reply back." Trina Vega made a sudden appearance, standing a foot to the right of Cat, who had a hand over her mouth. She was very worried now, but all Trina could do was compliment about her choice of lip gloss.

"Right now is not to time for complimenting. Thank you, but our friend Robbie seems to be hurting, and it is our duty as his friend to see what's wrong." Cat urged Trina to talk to Robbie during lunch, talking about how he already said no to her and how spending some time with a girl would make his spirits go up. Trina had a small fit, complaining about the social effects of "having lunch with _that guy_" would bring.

"I don't usually do this, but here goes…" Cat walks a few feet and stands in front of Trina, who is confused by that action. A couple of more seconds go by, and Cat turns around and gives Trina the best glare she could muster. I do not believe that a branding iron dipped in lava could've had a better effect.

"Alright Cat, I'll talk to the kid,"

"Teehee, see you later then." Cat skips up the stairs and out of sight, her strawberry crème-glossed lips smiling.

*_What is wrong with Robbie? Next chapter: A Trobbie lunch, where this story will really take off…*_


	2. Invited

Disclaimer= **I do not own Victorious. **

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><p>Robbie just did something that he never has done- workout. Never before has he run a lap, ride on a stationary bike, or lift 8 pound weights multiple times. He did all of that today and completed the multi-fecta by eating a powerbar.<p>

"You don't need that fool, you aren't fat," Rex chastised Robbie yet again after doing something deemed "unacceptable" through his puppet eyes. Robbie, quite frankly, did not give a single damn what Rex thought. He was trolling the internet, typing in various search engines about what a teenage boy can do to "improve himself." His eyes became fixated on one link dedicated to teen fitness.

" A 36 gram protein bar, don't believe I can stomach a cream of mushroom soup today." Robbie sighed and opted to spend his lunch hour in Sikowitz's class, which was currently empty while everyone lunched outside. He slumped down in his seat, the one nearest a window to rest his head on its side against the wall. The eyes drooped and he soon was in a power nap.

_How deep are we?_

_1,700 feet._

_We need to go deeper,_

_But we'll implode!_

"…_I don't know if you are brave or_...,"

Robbie woke up to find that Trina was sitting next to him, with a confused look on her face. He explained that he had a dream about the time they auditioned together; talking about how the last few lines were memorable. Trina, through a straight face, smiled and twirled her hair in nostalgia, happy that he remembered those lines.

"Why did you dream about that?"

"You got the part Trina, that's what I remember,"

"I thought you were going to mention the kiss,"

"Oh yes, how could I forget. That was good acting on your part, just wish that someone did that to me and it wasn't acting…"

_I wish it were real._

"Robbie don't leave kid,"

"Trina? I don't know what planet you live in, but ours isn't revolved around you. Your labels that you place on people that aren't up to your standards is just wrong. You just,"

"No **you **just need to relax _kid_. Do you think that I want to be in an empty classroom with you? Hell no; I'm spending my lunch with you, in an empty classroom, via a favor from _Cat_. What planet do **you** live on that you can talk to a girl like that? Yeah I'm self-absorbed, who isn't? That still does not give you a right to talk down on me. You know what," Robbie was stunned that Trina had such a rebuttal in her. He was just about to apologize and signal agreement when he felt his lips being kissed by Trina.

"That's as close to a kiss as you'll see here at Hollywood Arts. **Good day to ya!**" Robbie felt like crying and punching a hole in the wall but decided against breaking his hand on concrete. He checked the digital clock on his phone, which told him lunch was over.

"Oh man you got burned real bad,"

"Shut up Rex."

**xxx**

Cat had just finished her design class and was walking down the short stair steps that led to the entrance when she had her hand grabbed and body dragged to the janitor's room.

"I tried Cat, but there is something wrong with the kid." Trina slowly shook Cat's shoulders in desperation, pleading to her ocularly that she do something. Cat paced around in a circle, wondering what she should do to lift Robbie's spirits.

"Do you have lots of parties at your house Trina?"

"Its been a while, why do you ask."

"We can throw a kickback at your house and invite all our friends to eat some food, dance/listen to music, and play some games."

"Ah, I like the way you think." Trina quickly left the room, leaving Cat in her wake. Cat scratched her head for a few moments, wondering what to do since she was done for the day. The party idea came up spontaneously, but it was a good idea she felt because all of her friends would be there. She wanted to have a good time not only by herself, but with all of her friends, including Robbie Shapiro.

Speaking of which, we forward it to a few days later to the weekend, when Robbie went through his fifth tub of mayonnaise. His mood had not improved at all since the Trina ordeal, and he was too down in the dumps to get up from bed to go to school. On his laptop, he perused around the internet for a few hours, playing some games and checking his messages on the Slap.

"No new messages for the umpteenth day in a row; ping?" His laptop made a ping sound, indicating that he had a new message. Curious, he clicked the link, which led to an animation video that invited him to the "Kickback of all Kickbacks" later on during the evening. He was going to reject the invite when his cell phone beeped. It was a text message from Cat.

_Tori is throwing a kickback at her house, and she invited all of us; so GO! ;*) – Cat_

"Oh I don't know,"

"Don't be a fool man; a cute girl is inviting you to a party, where there will be other girls. Seize the opportunity." Rex had finally said something Robbie could agree with. The first order of business? Chugging a whole bottle of mouthwash…

**xxx**

*_An invigorated Robbie gets ready for the big kickback at Tori's house. Will this party completely lift him out of his funk?_*


	3. Mugen Thoughts

Disclaimer= **I do not own Victorious.**

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><p>The party was off and rocking. Since it was a kickback type of party, only a few people were invited, the people we've all come to love. There were bowls of chips, cases of soda, and games galore to make the kickback an exciting one. Since the following day was the weekend, everyone was ready to party until the wee hours of the morning. Andre, Beck and Tori were playing video games while Jade was chilling on the stair steps, her usual emotionless expression rampant. Trina and Cat, quickly bonding over the Robbie ordeal, were both dancing goofily to some pop song. They tried their odds at having a conversation through 80+decibel music coming from the speakers.<p>

"Has Robbie showed up yet?"

"No, I sent him a text message; I'm sure he will be here." Robbie Shapiro, the one person amongst their group that was absent from the kickback, a note that the invitees did not seem to take in. They have all had their share of encounters with the man, as Trina and Cat can attest to. Cat did a quick glance at everyone, and no one seemed to really notice one of their friends not being there. Gamely, she waltzed to the sound system to shut it off, which resulted in the sounds of the video game controllers being heard. They were so focused on the game that they only blinked their eyes in response to the music being turned off.

"Hey guys, don't you see something wrong with our picture?"

"Picture?"

"Yeah, we are all having a great time so far in the kickback, but one person isn't around- _one of our friends is not here_," Cat wailed at everyone. Everyone looked at her with confused looks on their faces. I mean, they always did because she would say something that was considered "weird" in their eyes. The doorbell chimed as Cat was addressing her friends.

"Yay more guests!"

"Hey everyone!" Jade, finally having something to do, went to the door and opened it. Robbie came in, dressed in his best clothes, sounding very positive and warming as he greeted everyone. Dapping the boys and nudging the girls on their shoulders (one of which produced a warning growl from Jade), everyone noticed a couple of things: 1) Robbie was present sans Rex and 2) he looked clean.

"Why are you teeth blue?"

"Oh that's a long story, don't worry about it." Jade took note of all things peculiar, hence her being the first to notice something different from Robbie when he flashed a smile.

_You don't usually narrow your lips, yet you flash a winning smile to everyone. _

"I'm sorry for being late,"

"No worries man, lets play some games and devour some soda and chips,"

"Or you can dance crazy, your call." Robbie thought for a minute. Andre and Tori resumed playing video games and Beck and Jade cuddled on the stair steps, leaving Trina and Cat stationary on the dance floor. Robbie calmly walked past Cat, to whom he gave a small glance back to as he approached the stereo. With authority he mashed it, stepped to the center, and proceeded to do his armpit dance, receiving catcalls from everyone. Slowly but surely, he was 'dancing his problems away' and having a great time doing it. A couple of minutes after dancing to his favorite song, he got the remote to change it to a techno dance/hype play list. He found a song that he liked and then pressed play.

"Good thing this song's buildup takes a minute to load,"

"What are you talking about Robbie?" Trina looked at Robbie funny, silently telling herself that he was being weird. She didn't press further on the issue, so she dropped it and went back into her room for a while. That left Robbie and Cat on the dance floor. They were looking at each other, both not giving too much away even though Robbie made a grand entrance to the kickback.

"You look great as always Cat,"

"Thanks, I like your haircut." Robbie smiled as he instinctively scratched his hair, which was only trimmed to keep his frizzy hairstyle. They were going to say some more stuff to each other, but the music suddenly exploded. The fast beat of the song pounded, Robbie and Cat remained where they were, still neither one making the first move. A good part of the song went off, making Robbie go wild, unleashing his rare super armpit dance moves. Cat just stood there, mesmerized that Robbie could do a complete 180 in his attitude. He admired this side of Robbie, a side that their friends did not really take note of. Andre and Tori were sitting closer together with each subsequent koopa Mario killed, and Beck and Jade were dancing on the stair steps in between kisses. Trina was still retired to her room. Cat was there though, and she felt herself stepping closer to Robbie on the dance floor, whom was unleashing historical armpit dance moves. Unaware what the approaching girl was going to do, Robbie stopped midway at the sound of the doorbell chiming, multiple times.

The music was quickly turned off and the games paused because no other guests were invited to the kickback that the group was aware of. Jade opened the door again with Beck inches behind, and some people their age stormed through the door. Tori jumped up and recognized them as neighbors in her housing complex, inviting them to the kickback. The music was turned back one by one of the unknown guests, and soon the party got rowdy. Robbie sheathed his armpit moves while the new patrons were doing some dirty dancing. Cat was in the middle, and she did a couple of these moves.

Robbie tried, but failed in executing a single one. He did see Cat dancing with one of the guys that came in, and he started to dance in place. It was fast at first, but then the steps slowed, until he just stood there with his arms folded, with that "What the hell am I doing?" expression clearly shown on his face. No one could see his facial expression because the lights were purposely dimmed so that the dancing would be more appropriate. Face palming himself, Robbie quickly made a beeline for the door and left, disgusted that he wasted his time going to a party that, in all seriousness, he did not want to be apart of.

*_Disgusted with himself, Robbie exits the kickback. What to come of this? It all will be answered in the next chapter, the final one for Rob Service._*


	4. Mugen Thoughts 2: Walk With Me

Disclaimer= **I do not own Victorious.**

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><p>Robbie ran very fast in a direction he was unaware of because it was pitch black outside. He turned and felt asphalt on his feet, an observance that made him stop.<p>

"Back at Hollywood Arts… how nostalgic these feelings are right now." Robbie was not going through a complete flashback, but rather a momentary lapse in time. It was one of those moments where something in your past is played and you see it with your eyes, but it only lasts a few seconds. Robbie remembers when he received the news that he had been accepted into Hollywood Arts, how proud that moment was for him and his family. Sleeping the night before his first day started was impossible, seeing as the fits he was going through resembled spinning food- he was never still for more than a minute or two.

_I remember it too well: I came to this very same parking lot in my pajamas, in a cold sweat from running from my house to HA, which was only a couple blocks away. I remember these tables… where I ate alone for about 6 weeks until, until that person was socially brave enough to sit and eat lunch with me. Why are these memories suddenly coming to me, at this time? Why? Who knows, but I think it is trying to tell me something._

A little while later, Robbie is inside Hollywood Arts, thanks to the door being open when it should be closed shut and locked up; it wasn't and Robbie was quick to close it. Better to leave it the way it was, he thought. The stair steps that were nearest the double doors were a good place to sit down. The sweat mixed with the body spray, causing Robbie to stink up a little bit. Once again he had that "What the hell am I doing?" expression on his face with an upgrade- his face buried in his hands. He thought about heading back to the party and apologizing to everyone for being so weird. He wanted to apologize for being who he was, that he'll change his ways in order to become more accepted. Then; well.

_It seems as if someone is inside the building, let's go in!_

This tidbit that Robbie barely heard caused him to jump, afraid that the police were going to bust in and arrest him for trespassing. Instantly millions of thoughts coursed through his mind, thoughts that he did not want to think possible. Was he going to get expelled from HA? Was he going to go to jail? All of these thoughts kept his face buried in his hands. When he heard the door creak open, he jumped up.

"Don't bother Robbie; we know you are in here."

"Who's there?"

"Trina and Cat." Relieved, Robbie went to the door and helped Trina and Cat get inside. Trina patted him on the back while Cat mustered much strength to fiercely hug Robbie. Trina calmly walked back home, where there was a cute boy she met and wanted to continue to flirt with.

**xxx**

"Should we get out of here Cat, I mean we are not supposed to be here right now,"

"It's okay; I think this is the best place to talk."

"You're right with that one," Robbie chuckled as did Cat. Both sat on the steps of their school in the pitch black of the night. Cat put her head on Robbie's shoulder, which caused him to awkwardly smile and nervously readjust his glasses.

"What's up?"

"Why have you been acting so weird?"

"Everybody thinks I'm weird Cat, I can't fight that,"

"I'm not talking about everyone Robbie, I'm talking about you. Why have you been acting weird? First of all, Rex is not with you and you two are always together. Second, you walked into the kickback all smiling with a new attitude- I may act dumb sometimes,"

"You are not dumb Cat, don't ever say that." Cat smiled, although Robbie could not see it.

"I saw that something was up with you. We've all hung out before, and our friends know that you can act goofy sometimes. But tonight, you were a totally different person. You looked very cute and you cut your hair, but it was as though you were hiding something." Robbie got up and proceeded to exit HA, causing Cat to trail him.

"Why are you leaving?"

"Going home, just tired of being tired."

"_Why are you running again?_" Robbie sat down at a table, and Cat sat right next to him. He turned to look at her with some tears forming in her eyes. Cat covered her mouth as she too was sniffling a little bit.

"I'm not running away… I can tell when people don't want me around and, well, that's why I leave places early. I left the party…." Robbie left that sentence trailing, causing Cat to press him further.

"I left the party because… _I felt lonely._" Cat gasped and hugged Robbie, which caused his defenses to evaporate. He cried profusely, as did Cat. Both their tears mixed and were relatable- both Robbie and Cat had emotional scars that were permanently etched in their souls. Maybe, just maybe something can change with that.

"I'm sorry about that," moaned Robbie, who rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. Cat apologized as well, but Robbie used his thumbs to wipe her tears away, making her smile and grab his hands. They both smiled nervously and looked away, still holding hands.

"Cat."

"Yes?"

"Do you know where we are sitting?"

"The tables of Hollywood Arts, why?" Robbie told her about the time she kissed him. It didn't mean anything, she had told him. Cat had momentarily let go of their hand embrace to twiddle her fingers.

"Actually, can I confess something?"

"Sure thing, what is on your mind?" Cat kissed Robbie again, this one lasting a long time and involving "more variables." Robbie had to pull back in order to breathe.

"I was a little jealous when Trina got to kiss you,"

"That kiss didn't mean anything, as you pointed out. Your kiss that same day did not mean anything either."

"What?"

"**We just had our first kiss.**" Cat squeaked in agreement, and the two resumed the kissing, not needing to say any more words to each other. They both lacked something in their lives, but just now found what both sought- each other.


End file.
